Although the story never lacks quality, this particular ending relies on some poorly written elements. One example is: even without any implants, V would hardly walk around night city without any iron to his waist. But they write it in a way that you do not think of this type of inconsistency when you are playing it due to the emotional load it brings.
For most endings, there is still a chance V will find some way out. The Tower is fascinating because it is not a desperate hope for survival but now a search for a *reason* to survive.
Yeah, the more I read about the Cyberpunk universe, the more ways I can see him surviving. That said, I’m about 90% certain the NUSA/FIA/Militech just cloned V a new body, used a copy of soulkiller they kept for themselves to tear him out of his body and jam him into a new one, and lied in telling him he couldn’t ever be implanted again just to make him a complete nonthreat. That it took 2 years was just a result of them having to clone a fresh body from scratch.
@@kylerogers8948That doesn’t make much sense. What’s the point of killing him to make a clone body? It’s not like there would be much repercussion if they just killed him and lie to their friends that the surgery couldn’t save him. No need to make a clone who could potentially unlock their hidden potential.
@@steakhero I mean, maybe not. But cloning had to have been involved anyways, given how much of V's body is cybernetically enhanced; depending on how far you go, you can hit a point where his brain may be the only truly organic thing left in him. There's just a big grey area on what exactly was done to V in the first place. That said, the more I read about Nomad Technomancers, there more I'm convinced that THEY could save V pretty easily too. Which in turn makes the Star ending that much more viable. But, at least the Tower opens up other possibilities and shows Arasaka isn't the only group who could theoretically save V.
@@kylerogers8948 nah cloning is too farfetched, its far more likely they just implanted them with some nano implant blocker bullshit and are more than ready to allow at any crucial time for V to be given clearance to use their implants, this is a prime opportunity for the NUSA and Miltech to just turn V into another sleeper agent like Reed
I view the city’s state, not the actual ending, as it’s canonical state. No matter which option is chosen, there are too many power vacuums to remain as the status quo or for NC to come out of the woodwork optimistically in the immediate aftermath. Regime changes always favor the last man standing, so through the chaos it makes sense that Militech/Biotechnica/Kang Tao/Petrochem would overthrow Arasaka under Nightcorp (arguably the initial heir to Night City)‘s trigger finger.
@@outrider425 even then, Saburo Arasaka has already died once and announced on camera. NC is still short a Mayor (and Arasaka Puppet), Militech/NUSA are clearly vying to move in either technologically or militarily, and the other corporations smell blood. The only good outcome I see even with the Devil arc is Arawak’s pulling out of NC *yet again* to lick their wounds
Disclaimer: It's always possible I remembered something incorrectly or misread something originally but this is all to the best of my knowledge from playing CP Red and 2077 ( though I did have to google a few details) So there's some context that needs to be established I feel. After the Night City Holocaust the damage was blamed on Arasaka supposedly detonating a nuke as a failsafe against attack, this led to them being banned from North America entirely. Militech pushed that narrative to propaganda levels for decades until, during the time of the red a Media (likely Rogue's son) published a series of stories about the fourth corp war and the AHQ bombing in particular. In these he revealed that Militech had brought the tactical (0.5kt or so) nuke with them on the AHQ raid and therefore the NUSA/Militech had been lying the whole time. Granted Arasaka DID have a failsafe nuke in the basement but it was a much larger thermonuke which they confirmed afterward had not detonated. As a result of these revelations public support of Militech dropped to lower than almost any other corp. That's more or less where things stood until the Unification war. From the beginning Militech soldiers made up much of the NUSA forces whereas Arasaka was contributing primarily arms, supplies and money. After fighting for 3 years Militech was already spreading their exhausted forces thin when they made a push towards NC. Only then did Arasaka officially enter the situation and they defended NC almost without having to fire a shot. After the unification war Arasaka was officially allowed to resume business operations across the entirety of North America, not just NC. The terms that ended the unification war almost couldn't have been better for Arasaka, despite all the of their financial and material losses. Thanks to the news about the AHQ bombing coming out and then showing up to defend NC from an invasion Arasaka had (relatively to Militech) positive image among the people of NC and by resuming NA operations they suddenly expanded in almost every way. Here's a huge detail people always seem to forget. Arasaka is almost giddy (as much as a >150y/o man can get giddY) at the prospect of dropping thermonukes on NC to keep the relic from being stolen if you read his diary during The Heist. Militech/NUSA? Not so much, they just got a tentative peace going with the western states, wiping NC off the map would plunge NA into another massive war they can't afford. But they do have Songbird and her ability to snatch Blackwall AIs, some of which could be arguably more dangerous than a thermonuke on a ballistic missile. So that's the precarious balance when the CP 2077 story is happening. Arasaka is re-growing it's power in NA, their military is stilll functionally at full strength and as a last resort they have an unknown number of nukes that they're more willing to use than the NUSA is. Militech on the other hand is generally disliked if not outright hated, and their military is still recovering. I don't think things would turn out this way if the NUSA loses control of Songbird. Sure, unless you go with the Devil ending 'Saka is likely significantly weakened by whatever course of action V takes. But without Songbird and blackwall AI the NUSA is now holding the weaker hand in their game of Mutually Assured Destruction.
@@Wertzuio hypothetically if she dies within Dogtown? That's more than enough casus belli to burn it to the ground. At the very least, Militech would be in a far greater position to justify attacking Arasaka outright with the (silent) support of the other corporations who could see Militech's control is preferable than Arasaka's control
Currently in an undisclosed sh*t hole in the middle east, the most exhausted I've ever been on a rare day off. Your videos are a much needed injection of fun, interesting lore to keep my mind off things. Keep up the excellent work mate.
I don’t view this ending as canon and neither do I think it will be canon, but it does paint a bleak picture of what we can expect of Night City in the sequel.
@@alexwalters35 as the others have suggested, Night City is essentially the quintessential setting of the Cyberpunk universe. I wouldn’t mind setting off to another city or area as part of a mission or something, but cutting out Night City completely is to cut out the heart of Cyberpunk. Trust me, there’s so much they can add to the city…especially its verticality. In just 2 years of the time skip, quite a bit has changed alone. Plus, there’s all the cut areas of NC that CDPR can bring back
@@alexwalters35they can always remake and enhance the city. I.e. make it even more massive than it is. It’s already huge, but it could be even bigger and filled with way more to do.
Another interesting detail in the tower ending is that the ancient polish forest full of buffalos that Misty is planning to move to is likely the Białowieża forest and Białowieża means White Tower in polish.
@@przemysawseredyszyn1405 nie zauwazylem ze ty polak, a dziwnie to na internecie tlumacza, wkoncu puszcza to "wilderness" - myslalem ze o jakims lesie piszesz niezwiazanym z puszcza bialowieska
Reed says that "ZetaTech is our tech". It's either owned by the NUSA or the FIA. Either way, it's a way for NUSA to gain popularity influence within night City and the world.
A theory I have is that Nightcorp (the organization founded by Richard Night’s widow) is the silent partner of Zetatech while making a deal with Militech in exchange for Arasaka’s expulsion. Arasaka was responsible for *technological* and *security armaments* meaning that companies with those skill sets are needed to fill the void. Since Nightcorp (who have always been the heir apparent to Night City) would most likely prefer to stay out of the limelight, they most likely allowed the two mega corporations to be the face of the City just how Arasaka has been when they were present
@@kingbooomer9231Nightcorp really are the shadow brokers of Night City. Who knows what their intentions are. My question is why does Netwatch care about stopping people from figuring out where homeless go? Isn't their job basically A.I defence?
you may as well have made an alternative universe video for each ending: This is not the Tower ending, it's another version of the Devil; instead of Arasaka supremacy and the return of Saboru, it's Myer's world.
It's interesting at first how megacorps were a thorn in the side of governments, but now there's sort of a synthesis of government and corporate power such as Zetatech and Militech's relationship with NUSA
In the Cyberpunk lore yeah it's interesting how this is happening but that is the definition of Corporation. In real life this has basically already happened.
Yes because the Corporations put their Puppets into the Governmental Structures to take them over. Real Life examples; Several US Finance Ministers who went from being in a Corporation like Goldman Sachs etc to being in Politics.
It’s hard to believe but real history is almost the opposite. For most of history the government was a framework that you rarely interacted with, basically serving for national defence and that’s it. Private business and industry was a more prominent part of people’s lives, private relationships. The government just started bloating.
only in cities and govts styled or small like Night City after 4th Corp War legit every goverment decided go full on and nationalized the shit out of Arasaka and Militech and other corps would follow suite or avoiding the goverment pressure via bribes or other means like take NUSA for example they legit annexed militech under US Military Chain of Command and using them for covert ops, and Soviet Union and USA during 4th corp war legit blowed up every corporate military satalite in low obrit area in space (USSR existed btw they lived 🙏) so point is only smaller nations or city goverments such as NC were being bullied by corpos
@@Corbomite_Meatballsikr, still remember throughout the game we actually get a lot of plot mentioning that dying peacefully is one of the best things that can happen in NC
@@Corbomite_Meatballstbh I think the best endings are the ones where you go out as a legend. Does a good life matter if no one remembers you after it? Remember Johnny’s situation… And the tower ending is the worst one. You loose EVERYTHING, you have no one left you cared about in the city, you have no legacy nor legend status, and all because of a selfish act in which you return Myers favorite toy back: So-Mi, and she will no longer be free. I think the main goal of the game is to show that there’s no perfect ending for the story, but you can choose to go out as a legend, or live in mental agony (which also is a parallel to So-Mi’s story: she doesn’t want to live, she just wants to be free)
@roberthgarzon6171 you do tho. I remember rogue calling and saying you got a semi legend status and should avoid coming back to city unless you want that notion broken
@@AesirUnlimitedthis is only true If you don’t choose Arasaka and furthermore chose to wait for a cure. With that option V will live to see the future post 2077 even if that future involves Arasaka. Truth be told that most likely might be the only future where the NUSA doesn’t fully take over the country. My thoughts on that notion being that i’m not even sure which evil is the lesser
@@AesirUnlimited that is true but now i’m sure you’ve missed a key component to the story which Dex asked you in the very beginning of the game, but I’ll explain that for you down below. For now let me clarify for you that V is still placed back within their body and not within mikoshi. The Engram stays within V’s body to keep them alive, both body, and mind seeing how V’s new relic needs a biometric housing to hold its integrity. Meaning if V’s in their Body with no conflicting engram, the body belongs to them, they’re alive no different from any human. If you did the side mission where you save those monks and later talk to them after Judy’s mission with Maiko, you’ll remember that you discuss whether on not - in the eyes of buddhism - an engram is human. The discussion allows for the interpretation that if an engram truly has consciousness then they should be considered human; at least in the eyes of their religion. All of that said, you would be a fool to fully dismiss the idea that V indeed completed their goal of surviving at all cost. Dex asks you in the beginning: Blaze of glory or No? Meaning do you wanna be the fire that burns fast but brighter than any other? Or a candle light that burns dimly but lasts for a long time. Every ending V makes that final choice: 1. If you go with Alt V survives but at the cost of their identity within the amalgamation of AI that is 2077 Alt Cunningham. 2. If you choose to keep your body you go out in a blaze of glory final mission that will lead to V’s death by drifting off onto space or a Legendary Op. that goes down in history. 3. If you choose Panam you’ll die in 6 months as stated. 4. If you choose Arasaka you can A. get sent back to earth leading to the previous outcome or B. placed within Cryo-Stasis in order to survive but at the cost of signing over their rights to Arasaka and then they are the IP of Arasaka not post removal of Johny Silverhand. Hanako upholds her end if the bargain and removes JS from V without killing them by doing exactly what Alt does to V. I repeat it’s not until AFTER does Takemura, Oda, or Helman offer to Cryo-Freeze V until a cure is found at the cost of V signing over their rights to the Corp. There’s always been ways V “survives” it’s just up to you to decide which is worth it to your V. PL just added some newer options to choose from Edit: keep in mind Arasaka only keep netrunners they capture in Mikoshi because they have no need for a physical body to netrun so unless your V was a netrunner it’s more than likely Arasaka would keep V within their body to be sent off on wet-work missions akin to what they did with Adam Smasher
@@AesirUnlimited no, no i did read it. And if you read my original comment i said “this is only true if you don’t choose Arasaka and furthermore chose to wait for a cure. With that option V will live to see the future post 2077 *even if that future involves Arasaka*.” I originally only was adding to the conversation. It was you who misunderstood what I originally said which lead me to believe that you didn’t understand the devil’s ending leading to further confusion and ended with us arguing two completely different points. I’m glad we’ve come to a common ground though
@@KidCaelus I think you’re misremembering the arasaka ending. V can no longer live in his body. They just make an engram of him and store it in mikoshi through the “secure your soul” program, which is basically Soulkiller 2.0, until they getter better technology to upgrade the program and be able to bring him back through a new body, since his engram is so unique that it isn’t compatible with any body at this time. No cryo-stasis involved. Saburo and his son’s body situation is an exception. And regarding the side mission with the monks. I think they’re obviously right in thinking that way. But they still don’t know what an engram actually is. Only Johnny and Alt can know that. Johnny pretends he doesn’t care, but Alt clearly tells you that “everything changes” afterwards. You’re not really you anymore, you’re a copy that no longer has a “soul”, hence the name. So the DLC ending is the first and only one where the “true” V gets to live his whole life with his actual brain fully healed, at the cost of becoming an NPC.
@@lucasmaury2627 forgive me, as I remember becoming part of the program in the agreement meant that the already created engram would be added to it because I remember the doctor initially mentioning having to make the engram in the first place like alt did. And the final scene V is place into a cryo tube to preserve the body until a cure is found. As for the monks i 100% agree it’s a matter of perspective. I brought it up as a point as to not dismiss the ends or the means of V’s ultimate goal being survival. If your V wants to believe in the perspective of the monks it is a justification for their survival endings regardless of the final outcome. Be it surviving through Arasaka, Alt, or now the FIA. No one can take that away from V. If they choose Alt and willingly let Johny take the body, V’s come to terms with it all and accepted their new reality and future. If you choose Arasaka V is holding on to hope and their desire to live and is content with taking the “safe” option even if it dooms them. Now with the FIA V is running on a gamble and when it paid off everything still changed. This time V will never be able to live the life they built ever again. The sacrifice this time is the ability to ever receive any cyberware. V’s story is over however which way you wanna cut it, we just get to choose which ending they want and no ending is any less valid than the other because when we make that choice V’s content with them all because they either achieve “survival” or chose how they die. (excepttttt if we chose to betray V through Johny lol)
yeah my guess is the voice actor couldn’t do lines cause wtf is that or unless panam is dead and Mitch didn’t wanna say anything about it???- im reaching though lmao , I dunno but poor v-at least he doesn’t have to worry about dying from the chip
@yanji003 it's so messed up that it's all up to interpretation. Sitting and not knowing if your lover is dead or alive, hates you or still loves you, never wants to see you again or never CAN see you again. The fact that any combo of those can be true is terrifying and sad.
i think this is an odd interpretation... V's been gone 2 years, and Panam is now the leader of the Aldecaldos. The family comes before anything else, and they're probably thousands of miles away from NC at this point. The writers go out of their way to remind us the V, and we, are not at the center of this world. That's a key point to understand with Cyberpunk fiction and games.
V can't stay in Night City. As soon as someone who has a bone to pick with them-every gang, corporations, etc-and find out they're essentially helpless now, their dead. That's why Rogue was trying to discourage V from going to the Afterlife-nobody needs to know they're alive. V has no resources left. All of their possessions are gone, they're homeless in a city where being homeless is a death sentence. Judy's married and wants to have nothing to do with V; Mitch tells you Panam doesn't want to talk to you. River's a criminal, Goro's a fugitive. Kerry's on tour, his head firmly up his ass. Misty's leaving, and soon Vik moves to San Francisco. We know that Padre got overthrown, and Mamma Wells closed the Coyote. V's only hope is going so far underground that nobody knows who they are (doubtful), or return to the NUSA and take a job with Reed. Who spends his days in regret, marking time. It's insinuated that So Mi did not survive long after being reconnected to the Blackwall project, and it would be believable that Myers is keeping the project alive, developing a Blackwall weapon. And I have a theory that the NUSA purposely crippled V's nervous system, kept them in a coma long enough for them to be harmless. For V, it's over
Depends on what build, super decked out sandy or netrunner build would probably suffer the most, psychopath anti-transhumanist V would rip out the spine of any common merk or gang member then use the same spine to kill their leader
After selling out So Mi to her captors, torturers, abusers, V retires to a comfy desk job at Langley to work for a horrific dictator and her brutal corporatist regime. This is the ending for someone who does not understand anything about the game or the world in which they actually live. This is the worst ending imaginable.
Oh yeah 100%. I'd be less than surprised if the NUSA is gunna miraculously figure out a fix to his issues once he's properly under their thumb. Find it hard to believe they'd turn down the chance to have a second Blackhand type guy/gal.
bro, the thing about this ending is that for some reason i really thought that it might be new, the best and DID NOT EXPECT AT ALL for it to be this heartbreaking. like, i cried for 20 minutes straight after finishing it and decided TO NEVER replay it again. i also believe the theory that nusa made V weak, did something to the chip or implanted V with diffrent stuff to get rid of V as they, in fact, were somewhat a danger to the nusa. if anything, this game kept telling us to trust nobody, especially big guys in suits, with guns and good doctors.
This ending was a 50/50 ending in my opinion. Overall V got their life back but it came at a big cost. Johnny is gone forever, V has pretty much lost everything they once knew but they now have a new life to start. A second chance, a fresh start to a new life. Not many people get that chance to start over. There’s an old saying “When one door opens, another closes”. V’s companions might not be able to talk to them or recognize them but V has a new perspective on the world, so they can start over.
To be honest if I would be V this is the perfect ending. Hard cut and a true restart. I would definitely take Reeds job offer and just enjoy the new found peace (I know it's boring and that Johnny will hate me for this😂)
If you start a new playthrough, especially as a nomad, and just beeline straight through to this ending, it really isn't that much of a bummer. The prologue is only six months, and while unclear, the story takes place over a few weeks to a month, so all the Chrome and friends were all pretty recent additions. Plus, you could always move up to San Francisco with Vik, open up shop as a Fixer, and get loads of business from Vik's customers.
Imo either The Sun, Don't fear the reaper or The Tower can all be "the best" ending, depending on what you value. Do you want a quiet life, the blaze of glory, or your family and loved ones (if romancing Panam/Judy)? There is no true best ending, par for the course in this genre.
Whatever does or does not happen, the Blackwall will break sooner or later unless something drastic happens. But I have to ask: what servers are the evil (possibly alien) AI's on?
From what I've been able to find, there are even entire massive cities like Hong Kong which are entirely uninhabitable by humans due to being irradiated and other issues. Yet the massive server banks the facilities in these areas have are protected and self sufficient so the radiation will never da.age the tech and the power will never go out. So you have honestly the vast majority of server technology, especially the older stuff, that's an untouched land where the AIs control everything. Plus, there's also some like the Cynosure where technically you can go in and try to do things but the second even a high level Runner jacks in they'll get fried. Or it could REALLY be like Cynosure and the AI/AIs are in control of security systems and other tech to kill intruders. Technically the mighty rouge AIs could easily be defeated by a kid hitting the server reset button that just deletes everything. But that's the thing, if you do that it deletes EVERYTHING. Including the highly valuable schematics, code plans, science data, etc that's stored in the Old Net. Add to that in many cases the rouge AIs have often assimilated some of this valuable data to a) make themselves stronger in some way and b) act as an insurance policy that some Corpo doesn't just go "fuck it" and hits the power button.
IMO though, even if V decided to raid Arasaka with the Aldecados, Rogue, or on their own, the events in 2079 would still happen anyway. A raid on Arasaka would weaken them further and very likely pull out of NC by early 2079.
I stand firm in my belief that The Tower ending will be canon in conjunction with any other ending besides The Devil. In all endings outside of The Devil, Arasaka becomes heavily crippled, whether by V or Yorinobu, it doesn't matter. What matters is that Arasaka will likely withdraw from NC, thus leaving the power vacuum that'll be filled by 2079. The Tower ending is merely just a preview CDPR is giving us of the world that V will never get to see in most other endings. As for what ending I prefer most, I think Don't Fear the Reaper + Temperance is the most fitting. Both Johnny and even V (through being beyond the Blackwall) are still alive. Both of which have become old ghosts haunting the Cyberpunk world, with their true whereabouts unknown by most people. Kinda like Morgan Blackhand and possibly Bartmoss
You forgot that in those endings where you help Alt, it then becomes probably the most powerful AI in existence since you let it infect Arasaka through their massive server and it gets access to everything including Arasaka’s black ops research and space stations where more even more servers reside.
Not at all surprised to see comments that act as if being a face in the crowd is the worst fate imaginable. Legend or not, at the end of the day V’s just another person - not the Main Character of the Universe
@@WiseFish bad for NC, but fine from a storytelling perspective. That said, a lot of folks just disregard the story entirely and only care about whether their handgun is “god tier” or “trash” based on whether 1 torso shot can disintegrate an enemy
I believe it's depressing because we as the audience saw the other endings. At the time, storming the tower and getting two versions of death depending on how you interpret it. OR going to the moon with possibly months to live and fighting the corporations (Or letting them do what they want). It all seems fantastical. We set out to get rid of Johnny and get on with being a Merc. In this new ending, rejecting that call to adventure and getting Johnny Surgically removed. The safe option. V loses something they can't get back, but more specifically time. It's far too close to reality for some especially myself who got a irl 9-5. Was there a call to adventure you rejected? Did you go down beaten path? Could you have been more than a face in the crowd? Can you still be more after that time? Its like the ghost of Christmas future came to you with another better version of yourself and said this could have been you.
Being a sell-out, who bows down to the FEDs and then gets shat out back into a worse world that you made possible is only a good ending for people who, recognizing it or not, have already sold themselves out. It's the natural conclusion for people who "grew up" and conformed. This is in every way the worst ending.
@@AesirUnlimitedI mean it isn't an uncertain Future. V has a job working for the FIA as a desk jockey, and can never use high end augments again. V doesn't get a new life here, he just becomes another drone.
Just based on everything that goes on in cyberpunk 2077 and the phantom liberty DLC, the don't feel the reaper ending feels like the canon ending. I men after everything you do in night city plus dog town , you really feel like if I can survive and do all that why not storm arasaka tower on my own and become a legend.
My headcannon and cannon for the Cyberpunk Red ttrpg game I'm in is that V became a fixer going by Vince (or Val if going off the female V) and would seek out talented mercs to provide gigs to as they would have experience and know what would be needed for any particular type of work.
My head Canyon and what I think will happen is basically a weighted average of all the endings. Via the night City native who was a street kid who became a corpo had the incident from the corpo life path happened. Then after trying to work with arasaka use the nomads to raid arisaka and also became owner of the afterlife wild rescuing the president and then we see this ending
There is a small difference in Reed's attitude depending on whether V always sided with Reed or only switched sides at the end. If V never betrayed Reed then he says he failed Songbird but will do everything he can to not fail V now. If you did betray Reed, he is despondent about Songbird and on the verge of a breakdown.
I think this new ending will be canon. There’s too many hints about an AI revolution coming and that would be accompanied by some kind of cyberwear regression. In the new ending, V already is starting over without combat implants. So she would essentially have a head start for being a merc with basic cyberwear when that AI revolution does end up coming
Well according to Lore. Morgan Blackhand only has one cyberimplant, his hand. If Morgan Blackhand could be a legandary merc without implants, who's to say V can't too.
this is such a cope, for people who do not understand tragedy, especially the tragedy of their own time. This ending is arguably worse than the Devil ending in terms of outcomes, and it mirrors the Devil ending in key respects viz., V kowtowing to Authority, selling out Songbird, and sympathizing with Reed who is a very Takemura-like character: honorable, and loyal to a fault to the wrong people and the more importantly wrong systems. A man of Honor who serves evil in the world. As to 'canon' who knows? what's interesting about the other ending to Phantom Liberty is the presence of Mr. Blue Eyes. If you know you know, and if you don't I'll leave that for you to discover. Mr Blue eyes is a key figure in a couple of the other endings and of course, the story surrounding the incoming Night City Mayor Jefferson Peralez. If you want to talk about the obvious hints around the black Wall and a revolution incoming as it pertains to AI look no further. I agree that this theme of the blackwall and the rogue AI's from beyond it poking through is the future of the next chapter in the Cyberpunk tale: and Mr Blue Eyes will be at the center of it. No ending better connects that than Contra la Luna. I wouldn't be surprised if V, and maybe even Johnny, come back for the sequel.
@@simonsonlyfan8600Morgan Blackhand was chromed out to the point he fought Adam Smasher 1 on 1. He certainly wasn't mostly meat Also V still has augments, just nit high end ones. V would just be fodder in this war thanks to that
nope killing songbird is the most satisfying ending for her. If she aint end up as a zombie for the blue eyed devil on the moon the "cure" will turn her into a brain in the jar
So, I finally finished this ending, and they make it sound so bad, but unlike other endings, you do get to see the people who helped you out when you first started your journey and that's quite bittersweet, and I was quite happy to watch this now after completing the DLC. Thanks man!
The most bitter part of this ending was how almost all of V's friends (except Vic and Misty) turned their backs on V. During the game, if you always helped them they would kiss V's ass with tons of compliments and what not. For example if you play male V and romance Panam, she always tells you how she'll go through hell and back for you. You're family and all that shit and after V wakes up from the coma everybody is straight up avoiding V or cuts him/her out of their lives. Funny how this happens only with the characters that had missions for you (aka had a use for you). Vic and Misty never asked for a thing. Goes to show this world has a few givers and a ton of takers.
This might be a little bit of a stretch but if V is still playable in Cyberpunk Orion I have a feeling he'll be trained by Morgan Blackhand. Blackhand used very little cyberware and he always thought the human element was superior to cyberware anyway due to cyberware possibly glitching. I think that would be really cool.
In San Fran they just did it for the Chinese. You can have whatever opinion you want on homelessness but California definitely doesn't care about solving the problem.
Mass removal of homeless happened also in South Korea when the Olympics came there in the 80s. It's what capitalist hellscapes do when they inevitably have a homeless problem and need to make nice for the camera
I dont believe there is a “canon” ending and the PL ending shows that. No matter what happens NC and the world is tugged by far more powerful strings than V could ever hope to challenge but merely exist as a pawn into for as long as they are able. As soon as V is no longer useful for the real drivers of the world the world moves forward as pre ordained. The whole idea of cyberpunk is the world doesnt care about you and ill just use you even if it means putting you wherever it needs you to be. Whether as a nobody in the streets with no power or taking down a space casino with a fucking kenshin tech pistol (fuck that gun). The war of AI will come and no matter what V wont play a role in it at all. The blue eyed people will do what they will
id like to think this is the canon ending...any other ending would, like the video said, force Arasaka to go on the offensive. all endings involve V's friends moving on in some way, but it doesnt mean Vs death prevents the 2079 version of NC from becoming a reality. Cyberpunk has always been rather hopeless and bleak with no happy ending for anyone, just Bad or Worse. that being said, id like to think V somehow made it as a Fixer; becoming another Rogue of the Afterlife and finding a somewhat peaceful life at the cost of their badass legend slowly melting away, but more than likely V probably followed Viktor and Misty's advice on moving on and finding their own peace
I wonder what the year is gonna be, because naming conventions so far have either been year based or unique name based. If they do a year subtitle again, it'll be another unique sounding year. 2077 is a really interesting and marketable number, just because of how unique it is.
Ironically, there’s a shard that can be picked up in Dogtown which says there is a 74% chance of a war breaking out in 2080, sounds like the sequel may very well be set in 2080 which is just a year after the tower ending
The biggest annoyance with this ending is the relationships and how V tells them all. It is extremely cryptic and that is just not how people talk when going into surgery, or at least in my personal opinion. I'd say straight up "The NUSA are gonna fix me, idk what will happen, I will give them your information so they can contact you" or just let your love interest come with you to the surgery. Panam straight up ghosting you after explaining why and making someone else say "hey don't contact her ever again" is extremely messed up and judy leaving and finding someone new does suck but given V not fully explaining what was gonna happen makes me understand why At least judys reason. CDPR probably didn't want something to combat the Sun's definitive happy ending since V does get the best ending: you leave with the aldecaldos and panam (and maybe judy depending) and you potentially get fixed with the aldecaldos contacts. I say that since the Tarot reading from Misty, if that gives anything into V's future, is the best out of all endings since it is all good readings and she is excited to give that info. If the Tower ending was: V gets definitively fixed from Reed and the love interest stays would make the Expansion seem more "Pay to win" since you'd get the absolute best ending, no more relic killing you, you're still with your love interest, and you get a fresh restart (Or job with the NUSA if you didn't have a love interest). They wanted to make it interesting and the near future time jump gives a good idea of what Cyberpunk: Orion could look like story wise (if some/most of this ending is definitive cannon)
Tower ending to me just shows what happens if you don't destroy Mikoshi, Myer's has a evolved Songbird, she could set it up with Militech to start a war with Arasaka when Yorinobu steps over the line again, this would give them reason to increase Militech troops on the ground and not be seen as anything as a "corpo war" then Myer's uses songbird to win and Militech takes the credit. This boost's Militech and other corps follow under Militech, which leads to the events of Night City in the Tower ending. Myer's cuts a deal with netwatch for traffic control for use of a piece of songbird, Myer's starts slowly taking over but in the image of the good guys. As if you attack Mikoshi, Arasaka's influence is lost, tons of money and assets gone, secure ur soul folds. They return to Tokyo, This also avoids Militech/NUSA having any reason to increase presence in Night City they can't do that unless they look like the "bad guys" you can't justify a increase of corpo troops in NC if ur not at war with Arasaka and they're not breaking the rules, this could avoid the corpo war or delay it longer. Heck if Panam's ending is lore then you also decrease militech's rep, and without NUSA having songbird they have to take things very slowly. I think this is why its so forced for V to attack Mikoshi, I think the AI using Alt is working with Mr. Blue Eyes, and that Blue Eyes plays a much deeper role, especially cuz V can pretty much step on his toes the entire time and not get punished. Also would explain how Blue Eyes was able to slip into Mikoshi and steal stuff, Alt let them in, no way ur getting into Mikoshi with a rampant AI taking out all unknowns and u can't wait till she leaves cuz then Arasaka is gonna be all over the place, most likely local P.D as well. Or the most deeply and screwed up thing was, you was a pawn the entire time and Mr. Blue Eyes was right, no matter what we do, no matter what we say.. We can't change how things end... But what I really enjoyed about P.L's credits is it shows V surrounded by ppl trying to all pull him/her into the direction they want and manipulate V, give V false hopes, false promises, and false friendship.. Just to use them and toss them to the side in the end.. 2 me V has basically adapted being Night City's guardian in a way, even tho NC is messed up you try and equalize the playing field, and help where it truly matters, and then when its all said and done... You vanish from NC. I think the the Tower ending you would just up and leave NC and probably lean on Reed for a bit of time, basically him helping you begin again like Jackie did. But this is just my side of it and I could be 100% wrong. Maybe I've been hanging out 2 much with the prophet.
I think the canon ending will be Songbird escaping to Luna and in to the clutches of Mr. Blue Eyes. I think the sequel is a war between Rogue AI’s and humanity. The protagonist, likely not V will play a small and tragic role in this war.
Tower ending is canon and a lore friendly way to explain starting out with no implants. Also NUSA has Songbird to further research rouge AI and ways to fight them.
@@Tonius126in Tower V doesn't only lose the implants, he/she loses the capacity to use any combat implant, with no way to change it. So, it would be no "lore friendly" at all. Unless you want the game without implants you need to do retcons. It would be miles more "lore friendly" to take any other ending and before starting the new story say that V just loses the old implants for some reason
@@nicovelardita8619Mike pondsmith said that V didn't go cybersycho because of the relict bearing most of load. Who's to say we won't get a new mcguffin that would allow V to get chipped again. Maybe a relict 2.0 or a chip with a rouge AI via NUSA. In short Tower ending is the canon ending.
@@Tonius126 yes...that's my point, as you say, you'll need to change the Tower ending to make it work as "canon", while any other ending doesn't need any change Star, Temperance and (in some capacity) Devil all leave V rich, with time to live and with contacts to make a final try for survival. You just need to say he did that last try and succeeded, simple as, new game starts there You don't need to introduce any mcguffin to do so, as you need in Tower. Ergo, the Tower ending as it is only can be canon if you suppose they'll change it, meanwhile all other endings can be canon as they are now. For some reason you're taking the ending which is harder to canonize as canon
(Sorry this is so long, if you read it all…thank you) I still don’t understand why V couldn’t become a fixer. The story setting V up to lose everything is dishonest because V has money lots of it especially if you engage in the apartment system and by another appartment. The NUSA pays V a large sum for saving the president and you’re constantly making money while establishing V as a legend. Back from being presumed dead to become a fixer is in fact EXACTLY what Dex did and there could have been a nice full circle moment for V You don’t even need to be violent to become a fixer because even information is powerful (V has hands as connections) Hands is proof of that very thing (money and information) both things that V has because they saw how militech was operating under night city. V could have definitely become a fixer in this ending. It’s a big reason why I disliked it so much. They try to hard to set V up to lose everything AGAIN even going as far as making sure you lose your love interest in the game.( which you lose anyway if V decides to rule to become the best and take the crystal palace Heist. Back to the merc thing V KILLS KURT HANDSEN that alone should be enough to set V up as a Fixer with all the information he knew from Kurt’s dealings to all the new enemies and Eddie’s he stands to make. V should have been a fixer (great set up for the sequel game too if they move on from V but have you’re created avatar give the new MC jobs) in the ending we got V trades NC rule to another devil of a corp and they STILL lose everything, living as a regular on the streets who are the most defenseless most taken advantage of people in NC. Another missed opportunity by CDPR in their storytelling.
I think not matter each ending(expect for "The Devil" one), Militech will be a major powerhouse in Night City once Arasaka retreats back to Japan after suffering heavy losses, which could tease what would come next in Cyberpunk Orion.
@@EternalNightingale no it doesn’t it loads you back to after talking with Viktor before you have a talk with misty on the steps after some local thugs knock you out
Honestly, if this ending was canonized I wouldn’t be upset because the state that V is left in is one of the best explanations for a skill reset if you play as V again in the sequel. The next game can be set whenever and we’re getting V his strength and skills back through one way or another.
V became a sleeper agent and conditioned not to fight back when deactivated explains why he cant beat random thugs even without implants he can put up a fight i believe
The fact that Panaam doesn't stick around made this so dumb. And also, wouldn't V know about Blackhand? Just because you don't have cyberware doesn't mean you can't be badass! This ending was just downright depressing...
Morgan Blackhand had cyberware. He had a sandevistan, hydraulic rams, a metal arm, smart gun links and cyberoptics, emp dampeners, Nanosurgeons etc. He has more cyberware than V can even dream of having in the tower ending.
I think a cyberpunk game on the other side of the world aka the USSR would be pretty interesting to see, to see not corporates having the iron grip on the people but the government themselves. An interesting thing to show that no matter which side you go, the further left or right you stray, the more authoritive and the more the everyday person becomes a victim
The USSR and other European countries are not a chaotic mess like NC or the NUSA, they’re actually quite pleasant to live in, since Western Europe and the USSR made peace long ago ditching the Americans. In fact the dissolution of the old USA and the creation of NC and the independence of the independent states was due to the Americans going into a war craze trying to maintain influence and power in the world since the Europeans making peace with themselves ending the Cold War and America’s influence in Europe leading to the Soviets and the Western Europeans creating the Eurodollar and ditching the USdollar . The US turned into a pseudo anarchy leaving the corporations to take control especially in NC and the independent states. So a game in Europe would be interesting but not as much considering is quite a pleasant place to live.
Disagree. The soviet union in this timeline is only socialist in name but in reality is very much just as capitalist as the nusa with their corporations ruling everything through the government. Maybe you can make the argument that as long as capital is allowed it will, like a cancer spread to a well meaning socialist government and turn it against the working class or say that the ussr in cyberpunk wasn't really socialist at all.
@@VolkovVelikanGoing by the lore given to us in-game the modern (2077) Free States and NUSA are decent places to live. Night City is so bad because it is run entirely by corporations and a useless city council. The Free States and the NUSA still have actual governments unlike NC.
i feel liked that the militech night city future is still gonna happened anyway whether you get the tower ending or not is just that V wont be around long enough to see it
Can’t really blame her. She probably really did wait for V (as evidenced by her 55 missed calls), but she has the responsibility of being the head/co-head of a nomad clan who are always on the move
I hated this ending the most. This is arguably the worse ending because no one gets a happy ending. Everyone thinks V died and move on like they were nothing. Vik grips on to V because V is his last string to the past. Panam is heart broken and Mitch pretty much tells you to fuck off. Goro gets a shitty ending, even if he deserves it. Johnny is wiped out. V is no longer V…… only person who gets a happy ending is Kerry.
If you think about it, it still fits the overall story and career of the game No merc in night city gets an "exit" really, even fixers got a target on their heads V's solution to saving their life means they gotta kill the reason they did all of this And it's their choice really, either die or live a different life completely changing everything about yourself, aka losing yourself, like johnny was doing to V by making them loose themselves to become johnny If anything every ending has a positive and negative, of course the Corpo one is more not so positive but technically you did save yourself in that ending in a way
If the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel (Cyberpunk 2079? Has anybody checked copyright registrations?) More or less continues the 'questing merc in Night City theme, I suspect that V's fate and whereabouts are as mysterious as those of Morgan Blackhand's. Will the sequel even be located in Night City? There are leagues of empty, unused space both in and around NS, so why not? The Tower ending is my first and so far only Phantom Liberty ending, and I was in such a rush to get into Dogtown, I ignored all the relationship side jobs (Judy, River, Kerry, the Peralezes) so a lot of these details are new to me, although not really surprising. I wonder if any of the 'co-stars' and supporting characters will show up in the sequel? But really, I don't want to know anything about what's in the sequel...I want the freshest, most novel experience possible when I load it onto my PC, and not an instant before.
If you reached family status with The Aldecados, the ending makes no sense. V should have been able to go live with the Aldecados. Realistically the writer should have made them unreachable or all dead. As written it feels like the writer was lazy or wanted to punish the player.
I agree when people say that this end can’t be canon because the whole thing with Alt doesn’t happen, and that is too important for the lore to be neglected. Although, the whol Zetatech taking over NioCity ting can still happen since most endings Arasaka gets destroyed. So it seems that we have at least an ideia of how the world will be in the sequel.
How? V gets to live and not get soulkilled. Mikoshi gets to be destroyed by Yorinobu anyways. Also V would be prime to prosper in a AI invasion with starting out with no implants.
At least V didn’t die. And frankly I’m okay with this ending. It’s a lot better that the repetitive, copy & paste “you’re always gonna die” of the other endings. Now those fanbrats who always seek out anyone who expresses their grief over the endings of 2077 & Edge Runners & say “Cyberpunk’s not supposed to have happy endings, what did you expect?” act a lot like the Agents from The Matrix franchise. Their “know it all” attitude about the entire Cyberpunk franchise is very similar to how the Agents guard all the doors & hold all the keys in the system. And how they suddenly reply to anyone mourning about V’s fate or David Martinez is very much how an Agent possesses a nearby person. And many of those fanbrats chant that “no one should survive,” & ignore that V lives in this ending, or how River’s cousin Randy survived his gruesome ordeal. They just chant endlessly “no happy endings.” These fanbrats dodge their own errors jist like how an Agent dodges bullets.
Woah woah who hurt you, it doesn’t matter what ending you like or is canon it up to us to accept which one it is, still all them are not good endings, they are bittersweet ones, v dies, has a few months to live, goes with the nomads, Johnny takes over, becomes araska’s ratlab or lives but loses everything they build and fought for and the city they once knew has changed for the worst and like the creator mike ponder smith has said, cyberpunk isn’t about saving the world but yourself. No good endings at least for the live of a merc
look at you, shadowboxing with the voices in your head. There are worse things than dying, my friend. The world V helps to bring about in this instance, is one of them.
Tbf not every ending suggests V will absolutely die, in fact some of them are pretty hopeful. Take the star ending for example. Panam mentions she has some contacts who have worked miracles on people, canonically one of these contacts are StormTech, a corporation that specialises in biotech and nanotech…conveniently this is what the FIA uses on V in this ending to cure them. They also have an office up in the Crystal Palace, which is also conveniently where Mr Blue Eyes sends you in the sun ending which is also pretty hopeful in of itself. It also helps that Misty tells us V was gonna live a good and long life out in the badlands, her tarot cards are never wrong
Speaking of the Tower, how amazing would it be if someone could actually make a dark Tower video game as in you know the Stephen King series, that could rival cyberpunk in it's goodness... But without the loss of Roland's fingers
Wish they'd let you wonder round this version of the city after you wake up. Could have the same gigs, but just without Johnny's input on anything, which would be quite boring..
I mean even though this ending shows that the nusa took over night city. Mr blue eyes and the rouge ai are still out there, and they are slowly preparing for war
Having just finished the game after a few years, my hope is that the canon ending is the Sun ending. I like when my heroes can ride off into the sunset. I think the sequel will feature a new protagonist
I think the canon ending would be the tower via NUSA assault on the space port. No gang or corporation would have the upper hand. You might even have several walled enclaves like Dogtown controlled by several power brokers. It would be the setup for Cyberpunk sequel and its online world, since we all know CDPR shareholders still drool over GTA V shark cash cards income.
Watching those 2 random lowly thugs uppercut my V who is on par with Adam Smash chair down a flight of stairs hurt me in every way possible
Indeed, it was a serious gut punch. Well written ending, made me actually feel lost and out of control
Why did V venture out onto the streets of Night City unarmed and unwary? Still brainfogged from his coma?
@@r1pbuck blud just wanna see Vector
Although the story never lacks quality, this particular ending relies on some poorly written elements. One example is: even without any implants, V would hardly walk around night city without any iron to his waist. But they write it in a way that you do not think of this type of inconsistency when you are playing it due to the emotional load it brings.
Plus, v would still have hands n be streetwise, but i like this ending also
For most endings, there is still a chance V will find some way out. The Tower is fascinating because it is not a desperate hope for survival but now a search for a *reason* to survive.
Yeah, the more I read about the Cyberpunk universe, the more ways I can see him surviving.
That said, I’m about 90% certain the NUSA/FIA/Militech just cloned V a new body, used a copy of soulkiller they kept for themselves to tear him out of his body and jam him into a new one, and lied in telling him he couldn’t ever be implanted again just to make him a complete nonthreat. That it took 2 years was just a result of them having to clone a fresh body from scratch.
@@kylerogers8948That doesn’t make much sense. What’s the point of killing him to make a clone body? It’s not like there would be much repercussion if they just killed him and lie to their friends that the surgery couldn’t save him. No need to make a clone who could potentially unlock their hidden potential.
@@steakhero I mean, maybe not. But cloning had to have been involved anyways, given how much of V's body is cybernetically enhanced; depending on how far you go, you can hit a point where his brain may be the only truly organic thing left in him. There's just a big grey area on what exactly was done to V in the first place.
That said, the more I read about Nomad Technomancers, there more I'm convinced that THEY could save V pretty easily too. Which in turn makes the Star ending that much more viable. But, at least the Tower opens up other possibilities and shows Arasaka isn't the only group who could theoretically save V.
@@steakheroV is a better Blackhand. So if Militech wants THE supersoldier, no better blueprint than V
@@kylerogers8948 nah cloning is too farfetched, its far more likely they just implanted them with some nano implant blocker bullshit and are more than ready to allow at any crucial time for V to be given clearance to use their implants, this is a prime opportunity for the NUSA and Miltech to just turn V into another sleeper agent like Reed
I view the city’s state, not the actual ending, as it’s canonical state. No matter which option is chosen, there are too many power vacuums to remain as the status quo or for NC to come out of the woodwork optimistically in the immediate aftermath. Regime changes always favor the last man standing, so through the chaos it makes sense that Militech/Biotechnica/Kang Tao/Petrochem would overthrow Arasaka under Nightcorp (arguably the initial heir to Night City)‘s trigger finger.
well unless you take the Devil ending and „fix“ Arasaka
@@outrider425 even then, Saburo Arasaka has already died once and announced on camera. NC is still short a Mayor (and Arasaka Puppet), Militech/NUSA are clearly vying to move in either technologically or militarily, and the other corporations smell blood. The only good outcome I see even with the Devil arc is Arawak’s pulling out of NC *yet again* to lick their wounds
Disclaimer: It's always possible I remembered something incorrectly or misread something originally but this is all to the best of my knowledge from playing CP Red and 2077 ( though I did have to google a few details)
So there's some context that needs to be established I feel. After the Night City Holocaust the damage was blamed on Arasaka supposedly detonating a nuke as a failsafe against attack, this led to them being banned from North America entirely. Militech pushed that narrative to propaganda levels for decades until, during the time of the red a Media (likely Rogue's son) published a series of stories about the fourth corp war and the AHQ bombing in particular. In these he revealed that Militech had brought the tactical (0.5kt or so) nuke with them on the AHQ raid and therefore the NUSA/Militech had been lying the whole time. Granted Arasaka DID have a failsafe nuke in the basement but it was a much larger thermonuke which they confirmed afterward had not detonated. As a result of these revelations public support of Militech dropped to lower than almost any other corp.
That's more or less where things stood until the Unification war. From the beginning Militech soldiers made up much of the NUSA forces whereas Arasaka was contributing primarily arms, supplies and money. After fighting for 3 years Militech was already spreading their exhausted forces thin when they made a push towards NC. Only then did Arasaka officially enter the situation and they defended NC almost without having to fire a shot.
After the unification war Arasaka was officially allowed to resume business operations across the entirety of North America, not just NC. The terms that ended the unification war almost couldn't have been better for Arasaka, despite all the of their financial and material losses. Thanks to the news about the AHQ bombing coming out and then showing up to defend NC from an invasion Arasaka had (relatively to Militech) positive image among the people of NC and by resuming NA operations they suddenly expanded in almost every way.
Here's a huge detail people always seem to forget. Arasaka is almost giddy (as much as a >150y/o man can get giddY) at the prospect of dropping thermonukes on NC to keep the relic from being stolen if you read his diary during The Heist.
Militech/NUSA? Not so much, they just got a tentative peace going with the western states, wiping NC off the map would plunge NA into another massive war they can't afford. But they do have Songbird and her ability to snatch Blackwall AIs, some of which could be arguably more dangerous than a thermonuke on a ballistic missile.
So that's the precarious balance when the CP 2077 story is happening. Arasaka is re-growing it's power in NA, their military is stilll functionally at full strength and as a last resort they have an unknown number of nukes that they're more willing to use than the NUSA is. Militech on the other hand is generally disliked if not outright hated, and their military is still recovering.
I don't think things would turn out this way if the NUSA loses control of Songbird. Sure, unless you go with the Devil ending 'Saka is likely significantly weakened by whatever course of action V takes. But without Songbird and blackwall AI the NUSA is now holding the weaker hand in their game of Mutually Assured Destruction.
@@kingbooomer9231 but what if you let myers die and take the devil ending? surely the NUSA wouldnt move in that soon then
@@Wertzuio hypothetically if she dies within Dogtown? That's more than enough casus belli to burn it to the ground. At the very least, Militech would be in a far greater position to justify attacking Arasaka outright with the (silent) support of the other corporations who could see Militech's control is preferable than Arasaka's control
Currently in an undisclosed sh*t hole in the middle east, the most exhausted I've ever been on a rare day off. Your videos are a much needed injection of fun, interesting lore to keep my mind off things. Keep up the excellent work mate.
thats cool. ur a marine?
I don’t view this ending as canon and neither do I think it will be canon, but it does paint a bleak picture of what we can expect of Night City in the sequel.
@@alexwalters35cyberpunk is night city. I doubt they will change locations
@@alexwalters35Night City is fundamental to Cyberpunk, and also, things have to be agreed by Mike Pondsmith as it's HIS universe.
@@alexwalters35 as the others have suggested, Night City is essentially the quintessential setting of the Cyberpunk universe.
I wouldn’t mind setting off to another city or area as part of a mission or something, but cutting out Night City completely is to cut out the heart of Cyberpunk. Trust me, there’s so much they can add to the city…especially its verticality. In just 2 years of the time skip, quite a bit has changed alone. Plus, there’s all the cut areas of NC that CDPR can bring back
It does DISprove the whole thesis that somehow taking down Arasaka will change things for the better
@@alexwalters35they can always remake and enhance the city. I.e. make it even more massive than it is. It’s already huge, but it could be even bigger and filled with way more to do.
Another interesting detail in the tower ending is that the ancient polish forest full of buffalos that Misty is planning to move to is likely the Białowieża forest and Białowieża means White Tower in polish.
You mean Bialowieza (bialowieża - pl spelling)
@@Angela-mv5niSorry I'm dyslexic. I'll fix that. Thanks
Misty most likely meant "Puszcza Białowieska" its real location in poland
@@fugia3444 Yes thats what I wrote in the original post. Puszcza Białowieska in Polish = Białowieża Forest in English. Whats your point?
@@przemysawseredyszyn1405 nie zauwazylem ze ty polak, a dziwnie to na internecie tlumacza, wkoncu puszcza to "wilderness" - myslalem ze o jakims lesie piszesz niezwiazanym z puszcza bialowieska
Reed says that "ZetaTech is our tech". It's either owned by the NUSA or the FIA. Either way, it's a way for NUSA to gain popularity influence within night City and the world.
A theory I have is that Nightcorp (the organization founded by Richard Night’s widow) is the silent partner of Zetatech while making a deal with Militech in exchange for Arasaka’s expulsion. Arasaka was responsible for *technological* and *security armaments* meaning that companies with those skill sets are needed to fill the void. Since Nightcorp (who have always been the heir apparent to Night City) would most likely prefer to stay out of the limelight, they most likely allowed the two mega corporations to be the face of the City just how Arasaka has been when they were present
yep, well said
@@kingbooomer9231Nightcorp really are the shadow brokers of Night City. Who knows what their intentions are. My question is why does Netwatch care about stopping people from figuring out where homeless go? Isn't their job basically A.I defence?
My theory is that they were using V like the winter soldier during those two years and made it impossible for him to use combat implants on purpose.
Thats crazy ngl. Cool theory, it would really cement how evil president Myers truly is.
holy crap 😂😀😨💀
*them
yup
@@tigrispanthera5496 says who? You can make your own V
Hope you all enjoyed this video, bit of guess work tbh but hopefully it all fit well!
you may as well have made an alternative universe video for each ending: This is not the Tower ending, it's another version of the Devil; instead of Arasaka supremacy and the return of Saboru, it's Myer's world.
How much of a guess work?
It's interesting at first how megacorps were a thorn in the side of governments, but now there's sort of a synthesis of government and corporate power such as Zetatech and Militech's relationship with NUSA
In the Cyberpunk lore yeah it's interesting how this is happening but that is the definition of Corporation. In real life this has basically already happened.
Yes because the Corporations put their Puppets into the Governmental Structures to take them over.
Real Life examples;
Several US Finance Ministers who went from being in a Corporation like Goldman Sachs etc to being in Politics.
It’s hard to believe but real history is almost the opposite. For most of history the government was a framework that you rarely interacted with, basically serving for national defence and that’s it. Private business and industry was a more prominent part of people’s lives, private relationships. The government just started bloating.
only in cities and govts styled or small like Night City after 4th Corp War legit every goverment decided go full on and nationalized the shit out of Arasaka and Militech and other corps would follow suite or avoiding the goverment pressure via bribes or other means like take NUSA for example they legit annexed militech under US Military Chain of Command and using them for covert ops, and Soviet Union and USA during 4th corp war legit blowed up every corporate military satalite in low obrit area in space (USSR existed btw they lived 🙏) so point is only smaller nations or city goverments such as NC were being bullied by corpos
In the end, it's not about changing the world, it's about saving yourself from the world.
The ending is there are no happy endings (not those kind) and life goes on.
It's basically the "best" ending you can get from a cyberpunk universe...you're alive and hopefully free.
@@Corbomite_Meatballsikr, still remember throughout the game we actually get a lot of plot mentioning that dying peacefully is one of the best things that can happen in NC
@@Corbomite_Meatballstbh I think the best endings are the ones where you go out as a legend. Does a good life matter if no one remembers you after it? Remember Johnny’s situation…
And the tower ending is the worst one. You loose EVERYTHING, you have no one left you cared about in the city, you have no legacy nor legend status, and all because of a selfish act in which you return Myers favorite toy back: So-Mi, and she will no longer be free.
I think the main goal of the game is to show that there’s no perfect ending for the story, but you can choose to go out as a legend, or live in mental agony (which also is a parallel to So-Mi’s story: she doesn’t want to live, she just wants to be free)
@roberthgarzon6171 you do tho. I remember rogue calling and saying you got a semi legend status and should avoid coming back to city unless you want that notion broken
At least with some of the endings, you can prevent some of these bad stuff from happening due to you still being somewhat around.🐱
@@AesirUnlimitedthis is only true If you don’t choose Arasaka and furthermore chose to wait for a cure. With that option V will live to see the future post 2077 even if that future involves Arasaka. Truth be told that most likely might be the only future where the NUSA doesn’t fully take over the country. My thoughts on that notion being that i’m not even sure which evil is the lesser
@@AesirUnlimited that is true but now i’m sure you’ve missed a key component to the story which Dex asked you in the very beginning of the game, but I’ll explain that for you down below. For now let me clarify for you that V is still placed back within their body and not within mikoshi. The Engram stays within V’s body to keep them alive, both body, and mind seeing how V’s new relic needs a biometric housing to hold its integrity. Meaning if V’s in their Body with no conflicting engram, the body belongs to them, they’re alive no different from any human.
If you did the side mission where you save those monks and later talk to them after Judy’s mission with Maiko, you’ll remember that you discuss whether on not - in the eyes of buddhism - an engram is human. The discussion allows for the interpretation that if an engram truly has consciousness then they should be considered human; at least in the eyes of their religion.
All of that said, you would be a fool to fully dismiss the idea that V indeed completed their goal of surviving at all cost.
Dex asks you in the beginning:
Blaze of glory or No? Meaning do you wanna be the fire that burns fast but brighter than any other? Or a candle light that burns dimly but lasts for a long time.
Every ending V makes that final choice:
1. If you go with Alt V survives but at the cost of their identity within the amalgamation of AI that is 2077 Alt Cunningham.
2. If you choose to keep your body you go out in a blaze of glory final mission that will lead to V’s death by drifting off onto space or a Legendary Op. that goes down in history.
3. If you choose Panam you’ll die in 6 months as stated.
4. If you choose Arasaka you can
A. get sent back to earth leading to the previous outcome or
B. placed within Cryo-Stasis in order to survive but at the cost of signing over their rights to Arasaka and then they are the IP of Arasaka not post removal of Johny Silverhand. Hanako upholds her end if the bargain and removes JS from V without killing them by doing exactly what Alt does to V. I repeat it’s not until AFTER does Takemura, Oda, or Helman offer to Cryo-Freeze V until a cure is found at the cost of V signing over their rights to the Corp.
There’s always been ways V “survives” it’s just up to you to decide which is worth it to your V. PL just added some newer options to choose from
Edit: keep in mind Arasaka only keep netrunners they capture in Mikoshi because they have no need for a physical body to netrun so unless your V was a netrunner it’s more than likely Arasaka would keep V within their body to be sent off on wet-work missions akin to what they did with Adam Smasher
@@AesirUnlimited no, no i did read it. And if you read my original comment i said “this is only true if you don’t choose Arasaka and furthermore chose to wait for a cure. With that option V will live to see the future post 2077 *even if that future involves Arasaka*.” I originally only was adding to the conversation. It was you who misunderstood what I originally said which lead me to believe that you didn’t understand the devil’s ending leading to further confusion and ended with us arguing two completely different points. I’m glad we’ve come to a common ground though
@@KidCaelus I think you’re misremembering the arasaka ending. V can no longer live in his body. They just make an engram of him and store it in mikoshi through the “secure your soul” program, which is basically Soulkiller 2.0, until they getter better technology to upgrade the program and be able to bring him back through a new body, since his engram is so unique that it isn’t compatible with any body at this time. No cryo-stasis involved. Saburo and his son’s body situation is an exception.
And regarding the side mission with the monks. I think they’re obviously right in thinking that way. But they still don’t know what an engram actually is. Only Johnny and Alt can know that. Johnny pretends he doesn’t care, but Alt clearly tells you that “everything changes” afterwards. You’re not really you anymore, you’re a copy that no longer has a “soul”, hence the name. So the DLC ending is the first and only one where the “true” V gets to live his whole life with his actual brain fully healed, at the cost of becoming an NPC.
@@lucasmaury2627 forgive me, as I remember becoming part of the program in the agreement meant that the already created engram would be added to it because I remember the doctor initially mentioning having to make the engram in the first place like alt did. And the final scene V is place into a cryo tube to preserve the body until a cure is found.
As for the monks i 100% agree it’s a matter of perspective. I brought it up as a point as to not dismiss the ends or the means of V’s ultimate goal being survival. If your V wants to believe in the perspective of the monks it is a justification for their survival endings regardless of the final outcome. Be it surviving through Arasaka, Alt, or now the FIA. No one can take that away from V. If they choose Alt and willingly let Johny take the body, V’s come to terms with it all and accepted their new reality and future. If you choose Arasaka V is holding on to hope and their desire to live and is content with taking the “safe” option even if it dooms them. Now with the FIA V is running on a gamble and when it paid off everything still changed. This time V will never be able to live the life they built ever again. The sacrifice this time is the ability to ever receive any cyberware. V’s story is over however which way you wanna cut it, we just get to choose which ending they want and no ending is any less valid than the other because when we make that choice V’s content with them all because they either achieve “survival” or chose how they die. (excepttttt if we chose to betray V through Johny lol)
I couldnt get over how panam just abandoned v, when he needed her the most
yeah my guess is the voice actor couldn’t do lines cause wtf is that or unless panam is dead and Mitch didn’t wanna say anything about it???- im reaching though lmao , I dunno but poor v-at least he doesn’t have to worry about dying from the chip
@yanji003 it's so messed up that it's all up to interpretation. Sitting and not knowing if your lover is dead or alive, hates you or still loves you, never wants to see you again or never CAN see you again. The fact that any combo of those can be true is terrifying and sad.
i think this is an odd interpretation... V's been gone 2 years, and Panam is now the leader of the Aldecaldos. The family comes before anything else, and they're probably thousands of miles away from NC at this point. The writers go out of their way to remind us the V, and we, are not at the center of this world. That's a key point to understand with Cyberpunk fiction and games.
@@yanji003She literally has new lines... did you even play the game
@@clydu91 to be fair you gotta seek em out.
V can't stay in Night City. As soon as someone who has a bone to pick with them-every gang, corporations, etc-and find out they're essentially helpless now, their dead. That's why Rogue was trying to discourage V from going to the Afterlife-nobody needs to know they're alive. V has no resources left. All of their possessions are gone, they're homeless in a city where being homeless is a death sentence. Judy's married and wants to have nothing to do with V; Mitch tells you Panam doesn't want to talk to you. River's a criminal, Goro's a fugitive. Kerry's on tour, his head firmly up his ass. Misty's leaving, and soon Vik moves to San Francisco. We know that Padre got overthrown, and Mamma Wells closed the Coyote.
V's only hope is going so far underground that nobody knows who they are (doubtful), or return to the NUSA and take a job with Reed. Who spends his days in regret, marking time. It's insinuated that So Mi did not survive long after being reconnected to the Blackwall project, and it would be believable that Myers is keeping the project alive, developing a Blackwall weapon. And I have a theory that the NUSA purposely crippled V's nervous system, kept them in a coma long enough for them to be harmless. For V, it's over
Depends on what build, super decked out sandy or netrunner build would probably suffer the most, psychopath anti-transhumanist V would rip out the spine of any common merk or gang member then use the same spine to kill their leader
If I was in V's shoes, I would have likely jumped on that opportunity to work with that desk job with the NUSA.
After selling out So Mi to her captors, torturers, abusers, V retires to a comfy desk job at Langley to work for a horrific dictator and her brutal corporatist regime. This is the ending for someone who does not understand anything about the game or the world in which they actually live. This is the worst ending imaginable.
@@DrophinoiaCorpo 4 life
Oh yeah 100%. I'd be less than surprised if the NUSA is gunna miraculously figure out a fix to his issues once he's properly under their thumb. Find it hard to believe they'd turn down the chance to have a second Blackhand type guy/gal.
@thewitchking852 I wouldn't blame them, V is extremely lethal. It costs less to disable them and put them at a desk top until they need them.
@@Drophinoia a comfortable desk job working 8hrs a day is the best outcome.
Tower ending is goated, you need to grow up
bro, the thing about this ending is that for some reason i really thought that it might be new, the best and DID NOT EXPECT AT ALL for it to be this heartbreaking. like, i cried for 20 minutes straight after finishing it and decided TO NEVER replay it again. i also believe the theory that nusa made V weak, did something to the chip or implanted V with diffrent stuff to get rid of V as they, in fact, were somewhat a danger to the nusa. if anything, this game kept telling us to trust nobody, especially big guys in suits, with guns and good doctors.
This ending was a 50/50 ending in my opinion. Overall V got their life back but it came at a big cost. Johnny is gone forever, V has pretty much lost everything they once knew but they now have a new life to start. A second chance, a fresh start to a new life. Not many people get that chance to start over. There’s an old saying “When one door opens, another closes”. V’s companions might not be able to talk to them or recognize them but V has a new perspective on the world, so they can start over.
Aldecado ending with the tank will always be my canon ending
Quiet life or Blaze of Glory
V got both
dude i just wanna say that ur content is absolutely FANTASTIC. Very well done and entertaining! love ur channel
To be honest if I would be V this is the perfect ending. Hard cut and a true restart. I would definitely take Reeds job offer and just enjoy the new found peace (I know it's boring and that Johnny will hate me for this😂)
If you start a new playthrough, especially as a nomad, and just beeline straight through to this ending, it really isn't that much of a bummer.
The prologue is only six months, and while unclear, the story takes place over a few weeks to a month, so all the Chrome and friends were all pretty recent additions.
Plus, you could always move up to San Francisco with Vik, open up shop as a Fixer, and get loads of business from Vik's customers.
Imo either The Sun, Don't fear the reaper or The Tower can all be "the best" ending, depending on what you value.
Do you want a quiet life, the blaze of glory, or your family and loved ones (if romancing Panam/Judy)?
There is no true best ending, par for the course in this genre.
Johnny will be whining tons but he'll stay with you, even in hell.
I gotta be honest with you, you are 💯 right. That was V's endgame after all
Let’s go another great video!🔥
It's hard to see any future that isn't dark, especially in Night City. :P Well played.
1960s/70s sci fi:
Whatever does or does not happen, the Blackwall will break sooner or later unless something drastic happens.
But I have to ask: what servers are the evil (possibly alien) AI's on?
From what I've been able to find, there are even entire massive cities like Hong Kong which are entirely uninhabitable by humans due to being irradiated and other issues. Yet the massive server banks the facilities in these areas have are protected and self sufficient so the radiation will never da.age the tech and the power will never go out. So you have honestly the vast majority of server technology, especially the older stuff, that's an untouched land where the AIs control everything. Plus, there's also some like the Cynosure where technically you can go in and try to do things but the second even a high level Runner jacks in they'll get fried. Or it could REALLY be like Cynosure and the AI/AIs are in control of security systems and other tech to kill intruders. Technically the mighty rouge AIs could easily be defeated by a kid hitting the server reset button that just deletes everything. But that's the thing, if you do that it deletes EVERYTHING. Including the highly valuable schematics, code plans, science data, etc that's stored in the Old Net. Add to that in many cases the rouge AIs have often assimilated some of this valuable data to a) make themselves stronger in some way and b) act as an insurance policy that some Corpo doesn't just go "fuck it" and hits the power button.
IMO though, even if V decided to raid Arasaka with the Aldecados, Rogue, or on their own, the events in 2079 would still happen anyway.
A raid on Arasaka would weaken them further and very likely pull out of NC by early 2079.
This is a better ending than i thought then! No further deaths to weight on V conscious.
I stand firm in my belief that The Tower ending will be canon in conjunction with any other ending besides The Devil. In all endings outside of The Devil, Arasaka becomes heavily crippled, whether by V or Yorinobu, it doesn't matter. What matters is that Arasaka will likely withdraw from NC, thus leaving the power vacuum that'll be filled by 2079.
The Tower ending is merely just a preview CDPR is giving us of the world that V will never get to see in most other endings.
As for what ending I prefer most, I think Don't Fear the Reaper + Temperance is the most fitting. Both Johnny and even V (through being beyond the Blackwall) are still alive. Both of which have become old ghosts haunting the Cyberpunk world, with their true whereabouts unknown by most people. Kinda like Morgan Blackhand and possibly Bartmoss
You forgot that in those endings where you help Alt, it then becomes probably the most powerful AI in existence since you let it infect Arasaka through their massive server and it gets access to everything including Arasaka’s black ops research and space stations where more even more servers reside.
Not at all surprised to see comments that act as if being a face in the crowd is the worst fate imaginable. Legend or not, at the end of the day V’s just another person - not the Main Character of the Universe
Surprised people didn’t like this ending tbh. I thought it was the perfect circle. It wasn’t a good ending but it fit V
@@WiseFish bad for NC, but fine from a storytelling perspective. That said, a lot of folks just disregard the story entirely and only care about whether their handgun is “god tier” or “trash” based on whether 1 torso shot can disintegrate an enemy
I believe it's depressing because we as the audience saw the other endings. At the time, storming the tower and getting two versions of death depending on how you interpret it. OR going to the moon with possibly months to live and fighting the corporations (Or letting them do what they want).
It all seems fantastical. We set out to get rid of Johnny and get on with being a Merc. In this new ending, rejecting that call to adventure and getting Johnny Surgically removed. The safe option. V loses something they can't get back, but more specifically time.
It's far too close to reality for some especially myself who got a irl 9-5.
Was there a call to adventure you rejected? Did you go down beaten path? Could you have been more than a face in the crowd? Can you still be more after that time?
Its like the ghost of Christmas future came to you with another better version of yourself and said this could have been you.
Being a sell-out, who bows down to the FEDs and then gets shat out back into a worse world that you made possible is only a good ending for people who, recognizing it or not, have already sold themselves out. It's the natural conclusion for people who "grew up" and conformed. This is in every way the worst ending.
@@AesirUnlimitedI mean it isn't an uncertain Future. V has a job working for the FIA as a desk jockey, and can never use high end augments again.
V doesn't get a new life here, he just becomes another drone.
Just based on everything that goes on in cyberpunk 2077 and the phantom liberty DLC, the don't feel the reaper ending feels like the canon ending. I men after everything you do in night city plus dog town , you really feel like if I can survive and do all that why not storm arasaka tower on my own and become a legend.
My headcannon and cannon for the Cyberpunk Red ttrpg game I'm in is that V became a fixer going by Vince (or Val if going off the female V) and would seek out talented mercs to provide gigs to as they would have experience and know what would be needed for any particular type of work.
My head Canyon and what I think will happen is basically a weighted average of all the endings. Via the night City native who was a street kid who became a corpo had the incident from the corpo life path happened. Then after trying to work with arasaka use the nomads to raid arisaka and also became owner of the afterlife wild rescuing the president and then we see this ending
@@HontasFarmer80corpo V was alwaysa corpo though
i had a bug or something where my v was naked in the ending cut scene.
instead ofholding back tears i was holding back laughter.
@@Wertzuio same thing AHAAHAHHAHAHA
22:25 . Dex told V they had to choose between a quiet life or becoming a legend.
V got both.
There is a small difference in Reed's attitude depending on whether V always sided with Reed or only switched sides at the end.
If V never betrayed Reed then he says he failed Songbird but will do everything he can to not fail V now. If you did betray Reed, he is despondent about Songbird and on the verge of a breakdown.
I think this new ending will be canon. There’s too many hints about an AI revolution coming and that would be accompanied by some kind of cyberwear regression.
In the new ending, V already is starting over without combat implants. So she would essentially have a head start for being a merc with basic cyberwear when that AI revolution does end up coming
Well according to Lore. Morgan Blackhand only has one cyberimplant, his hand. If Morgan Blackhand could be a legandary merc without implants, who's to say V can't too.
this is such a cope, for people who do not understand tragedy, especially the tragedy of their own time. This ending is arguably worse than the Devil ending in terms of outcomes, and it mirrors the Devil ending in key respects viz., V kowtowing to Authority, selling out Songbird, and sympathizing with Reed who is a very Takemura-like character: honorable, and loyal to a fault to the wrong people and the more importantly wrong systems. A man of Honor who serves evil in the world. As to 'canon' who knows? what's interesting about the other ending to Phantom Liberty is the presence of Mr. Blue Eyes. If you know you know, and if you don't I'll leave that for you to discover. Mr Blue eyes is a key figure in a couple of the other endings and of course, the story surrounding the incoming Night City Mayor Jefferson Peralez. If you want to talk about the obvious hints around the black Wall and a revolution incoming as it pertains to AI look no further. I agree that this theme of the blackwall and the rogue AI's from beyond it poking through is the future of the next chapter in the Cyberpunk tale: and Mr Blue Eyes will be at the center of it. No ending better connects that than Contra la Luna. I wouldn't be surprised if V, and maybe even Johnny, come back for the sequel.
@@simonsonlyfan8600 actually from what I’ve read, Morgan is more chromed up than we realise. He also has a sandevistan
@@simonsonlyfan8600The ending honesty confused me, because I beat the game with NO implants
@@simonsonlyfan8600Morgan Blackhand was chromed out to the point he fought Adam Smasher 1 on 1. He certainly wasn't mostly meat
Also V still has augments, just nit high end ones. V would just be fodder in this war thanks to that
Songbird to stars, then solo arasaka with ur best choom. That will always be rhe correct answer.
Hell yeah.
nope killing songbird is the most satisfying ending for her. If she aint end up as a zombie for the blue eyed devil on the moon the "cure" will turn her into a brain in the jar
@@ujbx...the fuck are you talking about?
Nah.
Song is going down.
So, I finally finished this ending, and they make it sound so bad, but unlike other endings, you do get to see the people who helped you out when you first started your journey and that's quite bittersweet, and I was quite happy to watch this now after completing the DLC. Thanks man!
The most bitter part of this ending was how almost all of V's friends (except Vic and Misty) turned their backs on V. During the game, if you always helped them they would kiss V's ass with tons of compliments and what not.
For example if you play male V and romance Panam, she always tells you how she'll go through hell and back for you. You're family and all that shit and after V wakes up from the coma everybody is straight up avoiding V or cuts him/her out of their lives.
Funny how this happens only with the characters that had missions for you (aka had a use for you). Vic and Misty never asked for a thing. Goes to show this world has a few givers and a ton of takers.
I hate this interpretation, it is so self-centered and fails to see the entire story, which is right there for you to see.
Panam is most likely dead
@@outrider425source?
@@ceddosamuraiit isn’t confirmed but could explain Mitch’s call to v
I still think V was never in coma, but used as an asset until V was dried out
This might be a little bit of a stretch but if V is still playable in Cyberpunk Orion I have a feeling he'll be trained by Morgan Blackhand. Blackhand used very little cyberware and he always thought the human element was superior to cyberware anyway due to cyberware possibly glitching. I think that would be really cool.
A mass removal of the homeless? Sounds oddly familiar of what happened in San Francisco.
In San Fran they just did it for the Chinese. You can have whatever opinion you want on homelessness but California definitely doesn't care about solving the problem.
Mass removal of homeless happened also in South Korea when the Olympics came there in the 80s. It's what capitalist hellscapes do when they inevitably have a homeless problem and need to make nice for the camera
This game is so detailed, a lot of stories can be told in this world.
but the mf Smasher isn't dead so this definitely ain't my ending of choice
would be by now cus Araska backstabbing him or MaxTac finally realized this mf is more crazy then any idiot left
bro got beef with Smasher
@@ancient-rhinowang6641 Smasher likely is alive even if you "kill" him. It's heavily implied that they have an engram of him.
We finally got a working metro system. Hats off to those NC Tunnel guys
Ok, crackpot theory: they replaced Kerry with a clone or an engram, kinda deal.
I dont believe there is a “canon” ending and the PL ending shows that. No matter what happens NC and the world is tugged by far more powerful strings than V could ever hope to challenge but merely exist as a pawn into for as long as they are able. As soon as V is no longer useful for the real drivers of the world the world moves forward as pre ordained. The whole idea of cyberpunk is the world doesnt care about you and ill just use you even if it means putting you wherever it needs you to be. Whether as a nobody in the streets with no power or taking down a space casino with a fucking kenshin tech pistol (fuck that gun). The war of AI will come and no matter what V wont play a role in it at all. The blue eyed people will do what they will
Would like to think V and Misty settled down somewhere in a remote Polish forest and just lived out their lives together.
Fuck knows they deserve it.
id like to think this is the canon ending...any other ending would, like the video said, force Arasaka to go on the offensive. all endings involve V's friends moving on in some way, but it doesnt mean Vs death prevents the 2079 version of NC from becoming a reality. Cyberpunk has always been rather hopeless and bleak with no happy ending for anyone, just Bad or Worse.
that being said, id like to think V somehow made it as a Fixer; becoming another Rogue of the Afterlife and finding a somewhat peaceful life at the cost of their badass legend slowly melting away, but more than likely V probably followed Viktor and Misty's advice on moving on and finding their own peace
wow 2079.. I'll be 100 years old
with my luck, I *will* make it
Woah....who else got flashbacks of The Pitt in fallout when you seen the Pittsburg bridge?
Every time I enter this city I leave it feeling like I am going to be dragged back in, I guess you cant really leave night city
I'm wondering if this is a setup for the sequel. Cyberpunk 2080.
I wonder what the year is gonna be, because naming conventions so far have either been year based or unique name based. If they do a year subtitle again, it'll be another unique sounding year. 2077 is a really interesting and marketable number, just because of how unique it is.
Ironically, there’s a shard that can be picked up in Dogtown which says there is a 74% chance of a war breaking out in 2080, sounds like the sequel may very well be set in 2080 which is just a year after the tower ending
The biggest annoyance with this ending is the relationships and how V tells them all. It is extremely cryptic and that is just not how people talk when going into surgery, or at least in my personal opinion. I'd say straight up "The NUSA are gonna fix me, idk what will happen, I will give them your information so they can contact you" or just let your love interest come with you to the surgery.
Panam straight up ghosting you after explaining why and making someone else say "hey don't contact her ever again" is extremely messed up and judy leaving and finding someone new does suck but given V not fully explaining what was gonna happen makes me understand why At least judys reason. CDPR probably didn't want something to combat the Sun's definitive happy ending since V does get the best ending: you leave with the aldecaldos and panam (and maybe judy depending) and you potentially get fixed with the aldecaldos contacts. I say that since the Tarot reading from Misty, if that gives anything into V's future, is the best out of all endings since it is all good readings and she is excited to give that info. If the Tower ending was: V gets definitively fixed from Reed and the love interest stays would make the Expansion seem more "Pay to win" since you'd get the absolute best ending, no more relic killing you, you're still with your love interest, and you get a fresh restart (Or job with the NUSA if you didn't have a love interest). They wanted to make it interesting and the near future time jump gives a good idea of what Cyberpunk: Orion could look like story wise (if some/most of this ending is definitive cannon)
I agree, the game is so committed to "bad endings" it has to come up with crap dialogue
Everytime I see something regarding this ending i think of that Churchill quote, "You'd have us die as lambs..."
The story of "V" is concluded in 2077. I look forward to a new story in projekt Orion.
Tower ending to me just shows what happens if you don't destroy Mikoshi, Myer's has a evolved Songbird, she could set it up with Militech to start a war with Arasaka when Yorinobu steps over the line again, this would give them reason to increase Militech troops on the ground and not be seen as anything as a "corpo war" then Myer's uses songbird to win and Militech takes the credit. This boost's Militech and other corps follow under Militech, which leads to the events of Night City in the Tower ending. Myer's cuts a deal with netwatch for traffic control for use of a piece of songbird, Myer's starts slowly taking over but in the image of the good guys.
As if you attack Mikoshi, Arasaka's influence is lost, tons of money and assets gone, secure ur soul folds. They return to Tokyo, This also avoids Militech/NUSA having any reason to increase presence in Night City they can't do that unless they look like the "bad guys" you can't justify a increase of corpo troops in NC if ur not at war with Arasaka and they're not breaking the rules, this could avoid the corpo war or delay it longer. Heck if Panam's ending is lore then you also decrease militech's rep, and without NUSA having songbird they have to take things very slowly.
I think this is why its so forced for V to attack Mikoshi, I think the AI using Alt is working with Mr. Blue Eyes, and that Blue Eyes plays a much deeper role, especially cuz V can pretty much step on his toes the entire time and not get punished. Also would explain how Blue Eyes was able to slip into Mikoshi and steal stuff, Alt let them in, no way ur getting into Mikoshi with a rampant AI taking out all unknowns and u can't wait till she leaves cuz then Arasaka is gonna be all over the place, most likely local P.D as well.
Or the most deeply and screwed up thing was, you was a pawn the entire time and Mr. Blue Eyes was right, no matter what we do, no matter what we say.. We can't change how things end...
But what I really enjoyed about P.L's credits is it shows V surrounded by ppl trying to all pull him/her into the direction they want and manipulate V, give V false hopes, false promises, and false friendship.. Just to use them and toss them to the side in the end.. 2 me V has basically adapted being Night City's guardian in a way, even tho NC is messed up you try and equalize the playing field, and help where it truly matters, and then when its all said and done... You vanish from NC. I think the the Tower ending you would just up and leave NC and probably lean on Reed for a bit of time, basically him helping you begin again like Jackie did. But this is just my side of it and I could be 100% wrong. Maybe I've been hanging out 2 much with the prophet.
I think the canon ending will be Songbird escaping to Luna and in to the clutches of Mr. Blue Eyes. I think the sequel is a war between Rogue AI’s and humanity. The protagonist, likely not V will play a small and tragic role in this war.
It would honestly go hard if we play as V again.
Tower ending is canon and a lore friendly way to explain starting out with no implants. Also NUSA has Songbird to further research rouge AI and ways to fight them.
@@Tonius126in Tower V doesn't only lose the implants, he/she loses the capacity to use any combat implant, with no way to change it. So, it would be no "lore friendly" at all. Unless you want the game without implants you need to do retcons. It would be miles more "lore friendly" to take any other ending and before starting the new story say that V just loses the old implants for some reason
@@nicovelardita8619Mike pondsmith said that V didn't go cybersycho because of the relict bearing most of load.
Who's to say we won't get a new mcguffin that would allow V to get chipped again. Maybe a relict 2.0 or a chip with a rouge AI via NUSA. In short Tower ending is the canon ending.
@@Tonius126 yes...that's my point, as you say, you'll need to change the Tower ending to make it work as "canon", while any other ending doesn't need any change
Star, Temperance and (in some capacity) Devil all leave V rich, with time to live and with contacts to make a final try for survival. You just need to say he did that last try and succeeded, simple as, new game starts there
You don't need to introduce any mcguffin to do so, as you need in Tower. Ergo, the Tower ending as it is only can be canon if you suppose they'll change it, meanwhile all other endings can be canon as they are now. For some reason you're taking the ending which is harder to canonize as canon
Yorinobu is now my favorite character
They done Viktor wrong. I don't believe he'd sell out like that. If V ever gets fixed, Vik will help him. He'll come back and do it.
(Sorry this is so long, if you read it all…thank you)
I still don’t understand why V couldn’t become a fixer. The story setting V up to lose everything is dishonest because V has money lots of it especially if you engage in the apartment system and by another appartment.
The NUSA pays V a large sum for saving the president and you’re constantly making money while establishing V as a legend. Back from being presumed dead to become a fixer is in fact EXACTLY what Dex did and there could have been a nice full circle moment for V
You don’t even need to be violent to become a fixer because even information is powerful (V has hands as connections) Hands is proof of that very thing (money and information) both things that V has because they saw how militech was operating under night city. V could have definitely become a fixer in this ending. It’s a big reason why I disliked it so much. They try to hard to set V up to lose everything AGAIN even going as far as making sure you lose your love interest in the game.( which you lose anyway if V decides to rule to become the best and take the crystal palace Heist.
Back to the merc thing V KILLS KURT HANDSEN that alone should be enough to set V up as a Fixer with all the information he knew from Kurt’s dealings to all the new enemies and Eddie’s he stands to make.
V should have been a fixer (great set up for the sequel game too if they move on from V but have you’re created avatar give the new MC jobs) in the ending we got V trades NC rule to another devil of a corp and they STILL lose everything, living as a regular on the streets who are the most defenseless most taken advantage of people in NC.
Another missed opportunity by CDPR in their storytelling.
v became a fixer in this ending… if you headcanon it 🤷♀️
My guess is, in the new cyberpunk game, we'll be playing the game from a new character's perspective and V might be one of the NPC fixers.
This is essentially giving up on the chance of being legend in the hopes of surviving.
This isn't the ending, its simply a cruel twist.
Grow up bro
It feels like the city just became more dystopian.
I think in the sequal it will either be more grounded or balls to the wall
Either ever enemy is a cyberphyco or your playing a survival horror with AI
Come the baddest in the city, only you wake up two years later and can’t take punch…hey who’s cutting onions near me?
Ngl I’d love a cyberpunk game based on this ending so much more ominous
WAIT THEY SOLD MY GUNS?!?!
Jinchu-Maru?! Genjiroh?!?! Ambition?!?!
😭 *SKIPPYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!* 😭
I think not matter each ending(expect for "The Devil" one), Militech will be a major powerhouse in Night City once Arasaka retreats back to Japan after suffering heavy losses, which could tease what would come next in Cyberpunk Orion.
This is the cannon ending because after you beat it your locked into it and cannot explore night city anymore
That Makes no sense after credits roll it load you back up to a previous save like the other endings
@@EternalNightingale no it doesn’t it loads you back to after talking with Viktor before you have a talk with misty on the steps after some local thugs knock you out
Honestly, if this ending was canonized I wouldn’t be upset because the state that V is left in is one of the best explanations for a skill reset if you play as V again in the sequel. The next game can be set whenever and we’re getting V his strength and skills back through one way or another.
Where did you get all these new infos? I barely got to see 2079 in my playthrough.
Dialogue heard, shards found around, terminals, the news on the laptop and some of my own theories
@@WiseFish Since you're theory crafting why not mention it? And will you admit you're wrong?
V lives or dies, the world will go on its' own way. The only difference is, will they be there to see it?
I thought this was Sam Bram, voice sounded very similar. Loving the documentary of Cyberpunk 2077
V became a sleeper agent and conditioned not to fight back when deactivated explains why he cant beat random thugs even without implants he can put up a fight i believe
Im so fucking excited for orion
I need to be put in a coma cause it's gonna take at least 6-10 years 😢
At least GTA VI will keep us busy til then
The fact that Panaam doesn't stick around made this so dumb. And also, wouldn't V know about Blackhand? Just because you don't have cyberware doesn't mean you can't be badass! This ending was just downright depressing...
Morgan Blackhand had cyberware. He had a sandevistan, hydraulic rams, a metal arm, smart gun links and cyberoptics, emp dampeners, Nanosurgeons etc. He has more cyberware than V can even dream of having in the tower ending.
Night City in 2079: reaching the bottom and then start drilling.
Song's name at 23:30?
I think a cyberpunk game on the other side of the world aka the USSR would be pretty interesting to see, to see not corporates having the iron grip on the people but the government themselves. An interesting thing to show that no matter which side you go, the further left or right you stray, the more authoritive and the more the everyday person becomes a victim
The USSR and other European countries are not a chaotic mess like NC or the NUSA, they’re actually quite pleasant to live in, since Western Europe and the USSR made peace long ago ditching the Americans. In fact the dissolution of the old USA and the creation of NC and the independence of the independent states was due to the Americans going into a war craze trying to maintain influence and power in the world since the Europeans making peace with themselves ending the Cold War and America’s influence in Europe leading to the Soviets and the Western Europeans creating the Eurodollar and ditching the USdollar .
The US turned into a pseudo anarchy leaving the corporations to take control especially in NC and the independent states. So a game in Europe would be interesting but not as much considering is quite a pleasant place to live.
Disagree. The soviet union in this timeline is only socialist in name but in reality is very much just as capitalist as the nusa with their corporations ruling everything through the government. Maybe you can make the argument that as long as capital is allowed it will, like a cancer spread to a well meaning socialist government and turn it against the working class or say that the ussr in cyberpunk wasn't really socialist at all.
@@VolkovVelikanGoing by the lore given to us in-game the modern (2077) Free States and NUSA are decent places to live. Night City is so bad because it is run entirely by corporations and a useless city council. The Free States and the NUSA still have actual governments unlike NC.
This is why arasaka is needed in night city
i think the next cyberpunk game will be arround 2100, will be fithing has V be a legend of NC thinking he/she already pass away
i feel liked that the militech night city future is still gonna happened anyway whether you get the tower ending or not is just that V wont be around long enough to see it
Corpo ducks never let change exist, you can only grasp at what your life brings and make the best of what that means to you.
Corps always wins
Arasaka and Militech after 4th corp war:we got yeeted into space and back by Goverments
I think CDPR put Zetatech in Misty's shop just to reinforce the idea that V can no longer have cyberware
I wish Panam would've waited
At least return a call. 😔
@@ryanartwardI’m not mad at her, just disappointed. I now no longer pursue Panam because of that ending.
Can’t really blame her. She probably really did wait for V (as evidenced by her 55 missed calls), but she has the responsibility of being the head/co-head of a nomad clan who are always on the move
Hurt a lot when panam just up and left me I literally told her I was dying
I hated this ending the most. This is arguably the worse ending because no one gets a happy ending. Everyone thinks V died and move on like they were nothing. Vik grips on to V because V is his last string to the past. Panam is heart broken and Mitch pretty much tells you to fuck off. Goro gets a shitty ending, even if he deserves it. Johnny is wiped out. V is no longer V…… only person who gets a happy ending is Kerry.
If you think about it, it still fits the overall story and career of the game
No merc in night city gets an "exit" really, even fixers got a target on their heads
V's solution to saving their life means they gotta kill the reason they did all of this
And it's their choice really, either die or live a different life completely changing everything about yourself, aka losing yourself, like johnny was doing to V by making them loose themselves to become johnny
If anything every ending has a positive and negative, of course the Corpo one is more not so positive but technically you did save yourself in that ending in a way
If the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel (Cyberpunk 2079? Has anybody checked copyright registrations?) More or less continues the 'questing merc in Night City theme, I suspect that V's fate and whereabouts are as mysterious as those of Morgan Blackhand's. Will the sequel even be located in Night City? There are leagues of empty, unused space both in and around NS, so why not? The Tower ending is my first and so far only Phantom Liberty ending, and I was in such a rush to get into Dogtown, I ignored all the relationship side jobs (Judy, River, Kerry, the Peralezes) so a lot of these details are new to me, although not really surprising. I wonder if any of the 'co-stars' and supporting characters will show up in the sequel? But really, I don't want to know anything about what's in the sequel...I want the freshest, most novel experience possible when I load it onto my PC, and not an instant before.
If you reached family status with The Aldecados, the ending makes no sense. V should have been able to go live with the Aldecados. Realistically the writer should have made them unreachable or all dead. As written it feels like the writer was lazy or wanted to punish the player.
people change, feelings change - especially after 2 years
It's left up in the air. We don't know what V did after the credits
I agree when people say that this end can’t be canon because the whole thing with Alt doesn’t happen, and that is too important for the lore to be neglected. Although, the whol Zetatech taking over NioCity ting can still happen since most endings Arasaka gets destroyed. So it seems that we have at least an ideia of how the world will be in the sequel.
How? V gets to live and not get soulkilled. Mikoshi gets to be destroyed by Yorinobu anyways. Also V would be prime to prosper in a AI invasion with starting out with no implants.
At least V didn’t die. And frankly I’m okay with this ending. It’s a lot better that the repetitive, copy & paste “you’re always gonna die” of the other endings.
Now those fanbrats who always seek out anyone who expresses their grief over the endings of 2077 & Edge Runners & say “Cyberpunk’s not supposed to have happy endings, what did you expect?” act a lot like the Agents from The Matrix franchise. Their “know it all” attitude about the entire Cyberpunk franchise is very similar to how the Agents guard all the doors & hold all the keys in the system. And how they suddenly reply to anyone mourning about V’s fate or David Martinez is very much how an Agent possesses a nearby person. And many of those fanbrats chant that “no one should survive,” & ignore that V lives in this ending, or how River’s cousin Randy survived his gruesome ordeal. They just chant endlessly “no happy endings.” These fanbrats dodge their own errors jist like how an Agent dodges bullets.
Woah woah who hurt you, it doesn’t matter what ending you like or is canon it up to us to accept which one it is, still all them are not good endings, they are bittersweet ones, v dies, has a few months to live, goes with the nomads, Johnny takes over, becomes araska’s ratlab or lives but loses everything they build and fought for and the city they once knew has changed for the worst and like the creator mike ponder smith has said, cyberpunk isn’t about saving the world but yourself.
No good endings at least for the live of a merc
A story that ends sadly doesn't mean the journey wasn't beautiful and full of happy moments.
look at you, shadowboxing with the voices in your head. There are worse things than dying, my friend. The world V helps to bring about in this instance, is one of them.
Tbf not every ending suggests V will absolutely die, in fact some of them are pretty hopeful.
Take the star ending for example. Panam mentions she has some contacts who have worked miracles on people, canonically one of these contacts are StormTech, a corporation that specialises in biotech and nanotech…conveniently this is what the FIA uses on V in this ending to cure them. They also have an office up in the Crystal Palace, which is also conveniently where Mr Blue Eyes sends you in the sun ending which is also pretty hopeful in of itself. It also helps that Misty tells us V was gonna live a good and long life out in the badlands, her tarot cards are never wrong
❤😢
Speaking of the Tower, how amazing would it be if someone could actually make a dark Tower video game as in you know the Stephen King series, that could rival cyberpunk in it's goodness... But without the loss of Roland's fingers
Music at 23:25?
Wish they'd let you wonder round this version of the city after you wake up.
Could have the same gigs, but just without Johnny's input on anything, which would be quite boring..
No implants tho
@@cynicalmemester1694have you ever considered the anti transhumanist psychopath V build?
@@averagelithuanian All the perks are just cyberware bought with perk points instead of money.
@@cynicalmemester1694 so perkless psychopath build you challenge me with?
@@averagelithuanian I mean without any cyberware, V can die to a single shot in the leg.
Remember, no matter the ending, NC doesn't have happy endings
05:45 I don't know if it is a success, Mikoshi still exists, and Saburo's possibly exists....so there is still a possibility for Saburo to come back.
I mean even though this ending shows that the nusa took over night city.
Mr blue eyes and the rouge ai are still out there, and they are slowly preparing for war
Its possible Yorinobu ordered the program to be cancelled or Saburos engram deleted
But, my character didnt use any combat implants. He should be good, right?
Having just finished the game after a few years, my hope is that the canon ending is the Sun ending. I like when my heroes can ride off into the sunset. I think the sequel will feature a new protagonist
W Yoranobu!!!!
WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
❤️❤️
Misty....shes wearing jackies jacket ...
Blaze of glory started to sound nice after this ending
I think the canon ending would be the tower via NUSA assault on the space port. No gang or corporation would have the upper hand. You might even have several walled enclaves like Dogtown controlled by several power brokers. It would be the setup for Cyberpunk sequel and its online world, since we all know CDPR shareholders still drool over GTA V shark cash cards income.